Spring loaded rotary knife

ABSTRACT

A rotary knife for use as a label cutter in an article addressing machine. The rotary knife comprises a hub member supported for rotation and having attached thereto a blade holder for removably receiving a cutting blade. The blade holder is secured to the hub in a contilevered fashion by means of a plurality of bellville washers whereby parallelism between the blade and an anvil with which the rotary knife cooperates to both feed and cut label strip material is maintained.

United States Patent Rod et al.

[ SPRING LOADED ROTARY KNIFE [75] Inventors: Trygve R. Rod, Mundelein; Richard J. Ernst, Palatine; Robert A. Davis, Gages Lake, all of Ill.

[73] Assignee: Xerox Corporation, Stamford,

Conn.

[22] Filed: Mar. 19, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 342,637

[52] U.S. Cl. 83/346, 83/348 [51] Int. Cl B2311 25/12 [58] Field of Search 83/348, 346, 347, 699

[56] References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 461,600 10/1891 West 83/348 1,310,922 7/1919 Novick.....

2,518,011 8/1950 Hoppe 83/348 X [111 3,823,634 [451 July 16, 1974 3,151,513 10/1964 Rowlands 83/348 X 3,209,633 10/1965 Doerman 83/348 X 3,425,307 2/1969 Doerman 83/346 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 934,295 8/1963 Great Britain 83/348 Primary Examiner-J. M. Meister 5 7 ABSTRACT A rotary knife for use as a label cutter in an article addressing machine. The rotary knife comprises a hub member supported for rotation and having attached thereto a blade holder for removably receiving a cutting blade. The blade holder is secured to the hub in a contilevered fashion by means of a plurality of bellville washers whereby parallelism between the blade and an anvil with which the rotary knife cooperates to both feed and cut label strip material is maintained.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUUSIQH I SHEU EU? 3 U "U U UUUUU [1 U l] UUUUUUU {gamma 1] m I] nun n SPRING LOADED ROTARY KNIFE BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION This invention relates to article addressing machines, and more particularly, to an improved'rotary knife for such machines.

One type of addressing machine commonly utilized in the industry comprises an arrangement for separating uncut labels supplied to the machine into individual labels prior to transfer of the label itself, or the information thereon, to the articles being addressed. For example, such an arrangement comprises a pair of knives to cut off labels from theweb of uncut labels supplied thereto, one knife serving to first cut the web into strips several labels in length, the other to cut the strips into individual labels.

Present rotary knife structures utilize a knife blade solidly in a rotary knife'holder. The blade is adjusted by means of two wedges to position the blade for proper cutting of the label as it passes between the rotary knife holder and a rotary anvil, the surface speeds of the knife holder and the anvil being essentially equal. A pair of set screws are usually provided for adjusting the radially extending knife blade along the radius of the holder such that the blade, at least laterally, is parallel with the anvil. Suchadjustments are quite cumbersome and very often are not accomplished in a proper manner, thereby attributing to'early failure and unsatisfactory cutting of labels.

Accordingly, it is a primary. object of the present invention to provide a new and improved article addressing machine.

' It is a further object of the present invention to provide an article addressing machine incorporating a new and improved rotary knife. j

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved addressing machine having a rotary knife which does notrequire adjustment for establishing parallelism between the blade thereof and an anvil utilized injunction therewith eachtime the knife blade is changed. j

Yet another object of this'invention is to provide a rotary knife assembly in an addressing machine wherein the blade of the rotary knife can be readily removedfrom the blade holder without removal of the entire assembly from the addressing machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The above-cite objects are accomplished in the present invention by the provision of a rotary knife assembly in an addressing machine which knife assembly comprises a hub member having a blade holder secured thereto, the blade holder in turn having the blade supported therein by a single set screw.

The blade support is mounted in a cantilever fashion An aperture provided in one end of the knife blade for receiving a tool enables the knife blade to be readily removed while the hub and blade support member remain in the machine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view partially in section showing an article addressing machine incorporating a rotary knife FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the rotary knife assembly of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown an exemplary article addressing or'labeling machine 5 incorporating the rotary knife assembly of the present invention. The labeling machine 5 in-' cludes an article conveyor 12 for bringing articles 13 to be labeled into operative relationship with the machine labeling head 14, head 14 serving to transfer either the label itself or the information therefrom to the article in the manner known to those skilled in the art. It is understood that conveyor 12 and labeling head 14 are suitably supported on the machine base 11.

In the arrangement shown, article conveyor 12 comprises one or more endless belts 20 stretched across drive and idler rollers 21, respectively. Roller 21 is driven from motor 24 through a suitable power transfer .mechanism. To facilitate the label transfer operation support roller 25 is provided underneath belt 20 and opposite the transfer wheel 26 of labeling head 14. Support roller 25 is driven by a motor 24 in the direction shown by the solid line arrow of FIG. 1.

Transfer wheel 26 of labeling head 14 carries an arcuate shoe 28 on the periphery thereof, the surface of shoe 28 being adapted to carry the individual labels from the discharge point of rotary knife assembly 60 into transfer contact with the article passing therebelow on conveyor 12. Considerable vacuum hold-down ports open to the surface of shoe 28 to enable the individual labels to be temporarily held on the surface of transfer chute 28 pending transfer of the label itself or the information therefrom to the articles 13. Transfer wheel 26 is mounted on shaft 29 which is driven by motor 24 through suitable drive means (not shown) in the direction shown by the solid line arrow of FIG. 1.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, label 17 may be physically attached to the articles 13 through the use of suitable adhesive. Normally the adhesive is applied to the underside of the label just prior to the time the label is brought into physical contact with the articles on transport 12 by transfer wheel 26. Alternately, the label information only may be transferred through a combination of heat and pressure generated between shoe 28 of transfer wheel 26 and pressure roller 25. In this application, the label information is printed on a special label paper such as carbon type 3 paper and suitable heating means are provided in the shoe 28 for this purpose. In this latter application, the used labels may be dispensed with or collected for possible reuse in an adhesive-type application.

Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings, labels 17 are normally supplied in an endless sheet or web 30 with the labels 17 arranged in multiple rows 31. The margins 32 of the sheet 30 are perforated at requisite intervals therealong to enable sheet 30 to be advanced by sprocketed feeder wheels 34 as will appear. The margins 32 are later removed by roller-type slitters 39 before sheet 30 reaches knife 40.

The labeling head 14 includes a lower base 36 for supporting the label sheet 30 as sheet 30 advances toward knife of head 14, base 36 extending along one side of head 14 in a direction substantially transverse to the plane of rotation of transfer wheel 26. Since labeling head 14 is inclined downwardly in the direction of label transfer wheel 26, base 36 has a similar tilt.

Knife 40 of labeling head 14 includes a movable upper blade-4'1 cooperating with the lower knife edge 42, edge 42 consisting ofthe inside terminal edge portion of base 36. Knife blade 41 is slidably supported for reciprocating movement in journals l4. Eccentric-type links 45 reciprocate knife blade 41 from driven shaft 46. Driven shaft 46 and sheet feeder wheels 34 are intermittently driven in sequence with one another and in timed relationship with transfer wheel 26 such that feeder wheels 34 first advance sheet 30 forward one label width following which knife blade 41 is driven downwardly to cut off a strip-like portion 52 of sheet 30 thereunder.

A chute 50 extends transversely below the discharge of knife 40 to receive label strips 52 following cut-off by knife 40, the downwardly inclined chute 50 serving both as a support and guide for label strips 52. Pinch roller pair 55 is provided proximatethe lower end of chute 50 to advance the strips 52 toward transfer wheel 26 and into the nip formed by rotary knife and roller anvil 61. Pinch roller pair 55 is intermittently driven as will appear.

Turning now to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 of the drawings, there is shown the rotary knife assembly 60 which comprises a hub,member 64 adapted to be rotatably mounted in unisance with the roller anvil 61. The hub member has secured to the periphery thereof a plurality of radially extending resilient pads 66 which engage v the anvil roller member 61 to thereby feed the strip-like portion 52.

In order to provide for cutting of the striplike member 52 into individual labels, there is provided a knife blade holder 68 having a blade 70 disposed in a recess 72 thereof.

The blade 70 is retained in the recess 72 of the blade holder by means of'a set screw 74 which is inserted through a threaded aperture 76 in the blade holder and engages a beveled recess 78 provided approximately in the middle of the blade 70. An aperture 80 provided in one end of the knife blade 70 allows removal of the blade from the holder by insertion of a hook-shaped member therethrough while the rotary knife assembly remains in the addressing machine.

The knife blade holder 68 is secured to a surface 82 6 of the hub member 64 by means of a pair of screws 84 and 86 which are disposed to opposite sides of the axis of rotation of the hub member 64. The knife blade holder comprises a leg portion 88 which contacts the surface 82 to thereby provide cantilevered mounting of the holder member such that the holder can be pivoted about the point of contact of the leg 88 and the surface 82. To this end, a series stack of bellville washers 90 are provided intermediate a surface 92 of the holder 68 and the surface 82 of the hub member 64. A guide sleeve 94 is provided for the series stack bellville washers.

While the invention has been described with reference to the structure disclosed, his not confined to the details set forth but it is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the scope of. the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Rotary feeding and cutting apparatus comprising:

an anvil supported for rotation; a hub member having means cooperating with said anvil for feeding paper through a nip formed there-' between, said hub member being supported for rotation adjacent said anvil;

a cutting memberincluding an edge extending in a radial direction beyond said cooperating means; and,

means for mounting said cutting member to thereby maintain parallelism at all times between an edge of said cutting member and said anvil when in contact with said paper, the mounting means including: v

a holder for said cutting member, the holder being mounted for pivotal movement substantially about the axis of rotation of said hub member and along said axis of rotation, and

fastening means including a plurality of bellville washers; a first screw, passing through the plurality of washers, for securing one end of said holder to said hub member; another bellville washer; a second screw, passing through said another bellville washer, for securing the other end of said holder to said hub member, said screws being disposed on opposite sides of the axis of rotation of said hub member.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said holder includes a leg portion contacting a surface of said hub member and said of bellville washers are stacked in engagement with an end of said holder remote from said leg portion and the surface of said hub member contacted by said leg portion.

3. A rotary feeding and cutting device, comprising:

a. an anvil supported for rotation;

b. a hub member having means cooperating with said anvil for feeding paper through a nip formed therebetween, the hub member being supported for rotation adjacent said anvil; v

c. a cutting member including an edge extending in a radial direction beyond said cooperating'means, and

(1. means for mounting the cutting member to thereby maintain parallelism at all times between an edge of the cutting member and the anvil when in contact with the paper, the mounting means including: l. a holder for the cutting ing a leg portion; and 2. means for pivotally mounting the holder with the leg portion contacting a surface of the hub memmember, the holder havtion and the surface of the hub member contacted by the leg portion, and a single bellville washer for securing the other end of the holder to the hub member, said securing being accomplished on opposite sides of the axis of rotation of the hub member. 

1. Rotary feeding and cutting apparatus comprising: an anvil supported for rotation; a hub member having means cooperating with said anvil for feeding paper through a nip formed therebetween, said hub member being supported for rotation adjacent said anvil; a cutting member including an edge extending in a radial direction beyond said cooperating means; and, means for mounting said cutting member to thereby maintain parallelism at all times between an edge of said cutting member and said anvil when in contact with said paper, the mounting means including: a holder for said cutting member, the holder being mounted for pivotal movement substantially about the axis of rotation of said hub member and along said axis of rotation, and fastening means including a plurality of bellville washers; a first screw, passing through the plurality of washers, for securing one end of said holder to said hub member; another bellville washer; a second screw, passing through said another bellville washer, for securing the other end of said holder to said hub member, said screws being disposed on opposite sides of the axis of rotation of said hub member.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said holder includes a leg portion contacting a surface of said hub member and said of bellville washers are stacked in engagement with an end of said holder remote from said leg portion and the surface of said hub member contacted by said leg portion.
 2. means for pivotally mounting the holder with the leg portion contacting a surface of the hub member to permit pivotal movement of the holder substantially about the axis of rotation of the hub member and along the axis of rotation;
 3. the means for pivotally mounting the holder comprising fastening means including a series stack of bellville washers for securing one end of the holder to the hub member, the stack engaging an end of the holder remote from the leg portion and the surface of the hub member contacted by the leg portion, and a single bellville washer for securing the other end of the holder to the hub member, said securing being accomplished on opposite sides of the axis of rotation of the hub member.
 3. A rotary feeding and cutting device, comprising: a. an anvil supported for rotation; b. a hub member having means cooperating with said anvil for feeding paper through a nip formed therebetween, the hub member being supported for rotation adjacent said anvil; c. a cutting member including an edge extending in a radial direction beyond said cooperating means, and d. means for mounting the cutting member to thereby maintain parallelism at all times between an edge of the cutting member and the anvil when in contact with the paper, the mounting means including: 